Frontier Airlines catapulted from the No. 5 spot last year to the top spot in ‘s 2013 airline rankings.
The annual ranking is based on five performance areas: canceled flights, on-time arrivals, mishandled bags, denied boardings and customer satisfaction.
The Denver-based carrier excelled in low rates of canceled flights and mishandled bags, as well as good on-time arrival rates. However, of the 10 major U.S. carriers analyzed, the Denver-based airline ranked second-to-last for its rate of denied boardings.
Frontier customers endured some excruciating growing pains this year as the carrier began transitioning from a low-cost carrier to an ultra-low-cost carrier — a new business model that strips down the cost of a plane ticket and then allows passengers to tack on nonessential services for a fee. But from a performance standpoint, Airfarewatchdog found that the carrier has been largely successful in this process.
Top airlines for overall performance:
1. Frontier
2. Virgin America
3. JetBlue
4. Alaska
5. Southwest
6. Delta
7. AirTran
8. US Airways
9. American
10. United
